Editor's note: charges against Shane R. Niles were dismissed upon recommendation of the probation department on Dec. 20, 2013.

AMHERST — Six University of Massachusetts students were arrested, two women were stuck by bottles, and several fights were reported as police say an early St. Patrick’s Day party at a North Amherst apartment complex quickly escalated to a full-scale riot involving more than 2,000 people.

The name of the event was the Blarney Blowout, and if police reports are any indication, it was all that the name implied and more.

The largest single gathering was at Town House Apartments on Meadow Street, and police estimate that at its peak 1,500 to 2,000 students were drinking in the apartment’s main quadrangle, police said.

According to police, two women were injured by flying bottles, and a 17-year-old boy needed transport to Cooley Dickinson Hospital after he was unconscious from too much alcohol. Several fights also broke out, including one that resulted in a 23-year-old man being assaulted.

People in the crowd also began to set fire to furniture while others tried to scale the roof of the apartments, police said.

As the crowd grew more unruly, the police department called in several off-duty officers and made a call for mutual aid to the Massachusetts State Police and the UMass Police Department to help disperse the crowd.

Police said a total of 24 officers dressed in riot gear moved in to disperse the crowd, and they were immediately pelted with bottles and cans and other objects. One police officer was injured by a flying bottle but she did not require treatment.

Video of Blarney Blowout at Town House Apartments:Warning: contains profanity

As police tried to clear the crowd from Town House Apartments, officers were also being called to deal with disturbances throughout town.

Police broke up a party at 55 South Prospect St., dispersing several hundred people, after neighbors complained of loud music, people climbing on the roof and thrown bottles. The resident of the address was cited by police with a nuisance house violation.

Also, as police tried to control the crowd in North Amherst, they had to divert officers to South Amherst to check on two separate calls, for a reported stabbing and for a report of a man with a gun. Each call turned out to be a hoax, and police were able to determine each originated with calls from Town House Apartments, police said.

They were scheduled to be arraigned Monday. Information on their arraignment was not available.

Each was also reported to the UMass Dean of Students Office and may be subject to disciplinary action from the campus.

Also, police intend to summons to court a 27-year-old Amherst man on charges of disorderly conduct, rioting, failure to disperse and attempting to burn personal property.
The man fled the scene before he could be arrested, but police were able to determine his identity. Police did not release his name.